Che Guevara's Death
Curated by Nikos Chatzinikolaou, Art History Professor at the University of Crete
The Exhibition of Thessaloniki in cooperation with
Miltiadis Papanikolaou, Director of the State Museum of Contemporary Arts
2nd March – 13th April 2003
Warehouse B1, Thessaloniki Port
The State Museum of Contemporary Arts in cooperation with Rethymno Centre for Contemporary Art (today Contemporary Art Museum of Crete) and the University of Crete, organized the exhibition entitled “Che Guevara's Death”, on the occasion of 35 years after his assassination. The exhibition was held in the premises of the Museum in the Port of Thessaloniki (Pier A, Warehouse Β1) and ran from 2nd March to 31st April 2003.
The exhibition included 35 works, paintings, engravings and posters derived from research centers and individual collectors. The visitor could also see the original photographs of deceased Che taken by Freddy Alborta.
In addition, for the very first time, the work of the great Greek engraver Tassos entitled “In Memory of Che Guevara”, which consists of 7 pieces (woodcut) and belongs to the National Gallery of Athens, was on display in Thessaloniki.
The works were collected from Latin America, the USA and Europe and included creations of Arnold Belkin, Rogelio Lopez Cuenca, Paolo Gasparini, Raul Arellano, Antonio Frasconi, Oskar Rojas, Ian Hillenberg, Ruth Weisberg, Yannis Gaïtis, Dimitris Zouroudis, Kyriakos Katzourakis, Despoina Meïmaroglu and Angelos Skourtis.
Purpose of the exhibition was to honor the great personality of Che Guevara and at the same time to present evidence of how artists around the globe reacted to the news of the death of a popular guerrilla fighter.
It is known that the photographs published after his death were associated with well-known masterpieces of the past, such as “Dead Christ” by Mantegna and “The Anatomy Lesson of Dr. Tulp” by Rembrandt. Through a new perspective these iconographic similarities acquire a topical character, merge with local folk traditions and they become timeless.
The exhibition was curated by Nikos Chatzinikolaou, Art History Professor at the University of Crete, and the exhibition of Thessaloniki was held in cooperation with Miltiadis Papanikolaou, Director of the State Museum of Contemporary Arts.
It is worth noting that the list was significantly larger than that of the exhibition in Crete, as it also included new texts, as well as their English translations, so that it is also accessible to foreign visitors.
